Think Progress

AFGHANISTAN -- 2008 IS THE DEADLIEST YEAR FOR U.S. TROOPS IN AFGHANISTAN:  The Associated Press reported yesterday that "insurgents killed two U.S. troops in Afghanistan on the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks...making 2008 the deadliest year for American forces since U.S. troops invaded the country in 2001 for sheltering Osama bin Laden." According to an AP tally, 113 U.S. troops have been killed in Afghanistan this year. As the AP notes, "U.S. death tolls have climbed sharply from the first years of the war. Only five American service members died in 2001. Thirty service members died in both 2002 and 2003; the toll climbed to 49 in 2004, then 93 in 2005 and 88 in 2006." In 2007, 111 troops were killed, bringing the total number to 519. The rising number of casualties reflects "both the increased number of American troops deployed to Afghanistan as well as the insurgency's increasing potency." This week, President Bush announced that he is going to increase the number of troops in Afghanistan, while simultaneously withdrawing 8,000 troops from Iraq.

INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS -- NATO REJECTS U.S. RAIDS INTO PAKISTAN: News reports emerged earlier this week that according to senior American officials last July, President Bush secretly approved orders "that for the first time allow American Special Operations forces to carry out ground assaults inside Pakistan without the prior approval of the Pakistani government." However, a NATO spokesman said yesterday that forces in the alliance fighting in Afghanistan will not take part in any raids into Pakistani territory. "The NATO policy, that is our mandate, ends at the border" of Afghanistan, spokesman James Appathurai said in a news briefing, adding that "there are no ground or air incursions by NATO forces into Pakistani territory." Also this week, U.S. Joint Chiefs Chairman Admiral Michael Mullen told Congress, "I'm not convinced we're winning it in Afghanistan. I am convinced we can." Mullen confirmed that he has commissioned "a new, more comprehensive military strategy for the region that covers both sides of that border" between Afghanistan and Pakistan, but the strategy will take place without NATO assistance. "Let me stress, it is not NATO that will be sending its forces across the border," Appathurai said.

IRAQ -- LIEBERMAN DECLARES THE SURGE A 'STRATEGIC SUCCESS': In late July, Sen. Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) said he would introduce a resolution in the Senate to applaud the success of the surge "against enemies who attacked America on 9/11." On Wednesday, Lieberman introduced the formal amendment (S. Amdt. 5368 to S. 3001), which "expresses the sense of the Senate recognizing the strategic success of the troop surge in Iraq." In his statement, he linked the surge to 9/11: "If there is anyone in this Chamber who doubts the strategic stakes in Iraq, I urge them to listen to General Petraeus. Listen to General Petraeus who warned us in an interview published today in the Washington Post that 'Iraq is still viewed as the central front for al-Qaida.' It is the judgment of America's most successful battlefield commander in the war on terror which began 7 years ago tomorrow when America was brutally attacked on 9/11/2001." While the surge has certainly produced calmer streets in Iraq, it has not achieved its primary purpose of facilitating political reconciliation. The surge has essentially frozen into place "a fragmented and increasingly fractured country" and produced an "an oil revenue-fueled, religious Shia-dominated national government with close ties to Iran." As Yglesias explains, "An al-Qaeda offshoot only arose in Iraq in the first place because we invaded there and created an appealing venue in which to try to kill American soldiers and bleed American resources."

As "greater Houston faces the real possibility of a direct hit" from Hurricane Ike, "the National Weather Service issued a stern warning to people living in small houses on Galveston Island that they faced 'certain death' from flooding if they remained in their homes."

The House will vote on a bill to allow expanded offshore drilling as early as next week, as part of an energy package that would also repeal tax breaks for oil companies and invest in renewable energy sources. "So we're saying: OK, you want to drill, this is how it will be. No more subsidies," House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) said.

The next president "will be confronted with slow growth, high unemployment and an economy teetering toward recession," say 51 private economists surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, making pumping up the economy "the first challenge facing either Democrat Barack Obama or Republican John McCain."

Foreclosure filings last month "increased 27 percent compared to the same month a year ago." Senate Democrats are urging Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to immediately implement 90-day foreclosure freeze on mortgages they hold.

"The U.S. trade deficit soared in July, the Commerce Department said, as oil imports hit an all-time high. ...The Labor Department also reported that new applications for unemployment benefits fell less than expected last week as the struggling economy continues to take a toll on workers."

"The Justice Department will unveil changes to FBI ground rules today that would put much more power into the hands of line agents pursuing leads on national security, foreign intelligence and even ordinary criminal cases." The changes give agents "the ability at a much earlier stage" to conduct physical surveillance and solicit information through friends and informants without the approval of a supervisor.

An unusually-detailed study of people newly infected with H.I.V. in the U.S. "has confirmed that the majority of new cases occur among gay and bisexual men and that blacks are most at risk." The study -- reported yesterday by the CDC -- also found that whites and blacks tend to be infected with the H.I.V. virus at different times in their lives.

And finally: Speaking to Working Mother Media on Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R-NC) told a story about a sexist former classmate from her days at Harvard Law School. The guy asked her why she was there, insinuating that she just wanted to land a rich husband. "Don't you know that there are men who...will actually use their legal education?" he asked her. Dole said that this man is now a powerful DC attorney and that she now "loves to tell the story in front of him" -- "just to make him squirm."